this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2024
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

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Otherwise it defeats the purpose of calling it a glove box. If gloves are not in this box it would be more accurate to describe that volume as a passenger compartment.

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 4 months ago (1 children)

youre really not going to like what they do on parkways

[–] [email protected] 46 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 35 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You should see me on the highways today.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Imagine my surprise when I realised byways was spelled with a 'y'!

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago

Of course, why spell it bywaze?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

I'm a follower of the bi-ways, myself

[–] [email protected] 46 points 4 months ago

If you call it a passenger compartment then you're going to have to put a passenger in there.

I vote for "trinket receptacle".

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

The glove box is for your registration, proof of insurance, and a collection of assorted useless bullshit that you'll see once a year, and clean out maybe twice for as long as you own the car.

That cheap keychain you bought? Glove box.

Three tire pressure gauges that don't work very well? Glove box.

Throw in a dull utility knife, some electrical tape, fuses that don't fit your car, a blinker bulb, expired mints or chewing gum, a Bic lighter, and a clicky pen you got for free for going to something, and you've got a well-stocked compartment.

It's the junk drawer in your kitchen, but for your car.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I keep very small tins of peas and carrots in there mostly

You never know when you're going to see a hungry hungry duck

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Don't forget hundreds and hundreds of fast food napkins that make it impossible to find anything else in there.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

My glovebox has a separate compartment to one side, just the right size for a bottle of water, where you can divert some of the cold air from the airco the pass through. Took me a while to figure out what the big knob in the glove box was for, but it’s super nice to have in summer.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Not thinking of many off the top of my head but I am sure there are many things called by an obsolete name.

Trunk of a car, maybe. Used to be a literal trunk (box) strapped to the car.

Filming someone. Or taping. No film/tape involved now.

"Floppy" disk icon for saving in PC apps. Youngsters probably wonder wtf that is.

There's probably a word for this.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

That word would probably be either "skeuomorph" or "vestigial"

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

If car manufacturers didn't always include 500 page novels and put them in there then there might be room for gloves. If anything the glovebox should be called the manual-box

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Of course, in most modern cars it's called the automatic box.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Due to legislation, it's now the semi-automatic box.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

Passenger compartment is even more wrong than glove box, though, isn't it?

That compartment is used by the driver. I've never seen a passenger use it. And obviously, the driver doesn't keep passengers in that compartment.

It's got nothing to do with passengers, other than being on the passenger's side. And if it's really just because it's on the passenger's side, "passenger compartment" is an unusual way to say that in English. It sounds like what you'd call the main cabin.

On the other hand, if you have gloves that you keep in the car, at least it's possible to keep them in that compartment.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

Maybe it’s not that you’re required to have gloves, but rather that if you leave gloves in the car, they must go in that compartment.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

On my Fiat 500 (which admittedly doesn’t have a door that can be closed) the manual refers to it as an “oddments compartment”.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Love that song, exactly what I thought of.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

tires were a lot less reliable than they are now, and i mean to the point that you really needed to be ready to change a flat every time you drove your car.. they didn't fail all the time, but they failed at a much higher rate and when they did it was usually catastrophic.. modern tires tend to deal with punctures and failure in general a lot better than the inner tube tires used prior to the 80s.. and obviously nobody had a cell phone to call for help..

so you kept work gloves in there for changing a flat tire

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I thought it was from when people wore "driving gloves" back in the day

[–] [email protected] -4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

think whatever the fuck you like, my little Thinker

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Eh, after looking it up, I was correct. So I will continue thinking that.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

You should keep the potato compartment filled with spuds as the good lord intended

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

I legit keep a pair of leather work gloves and a flashlight in my glove compartment.

It's come in handy multiple times

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

None of my passengers fit in there!??!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Does noone use driving gloves anymore?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

"Glove box" is a euphemism, the thing was made for a gun.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Chauffeur gloves: am I a joke to you?!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Or just driving gloves

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I just call it the garbage can because that's what I use mine as. My car has a little box inbetween the driver and passenger seat with the USB port for Android auto and such that I use for actually keeping things in. Does that box even have a name? I've heard it referred to as a center console but... It ain't no console. WTF?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Console means a type of support in some contexts via Latin consolor "to alleviate, lighten" so I'd bet it comes from there as it probably originated as an armrest

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Where I grew up it's called a cubby hole

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Honestly, I think there should be legislation. that any usb ports should only be allowed to be placed within closed compartments (such as the glove box) so that to charge your phone or use Car play / android auto your phone would have to be away and inaccessible.

They could then be renamed to a phonebox

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

So people without in-dash display units to use Car Play don't get navigation then? My phone sits on the dash with maps plugged in for roadtrips.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Yeah, that's a good point. I hadn't considered that.

Maybe one at the end of the dash, near the windscreen?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

And by closed compartments I mean, closable and usually, when the car is in motion closed. I don't want them to lock closed when the car is in motion or even have electronics to check that the compartment is closed before powering the usb or anything.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

And can we please require multiple USB ports? My vehicle has exactly one. That thing cost $20,000 can I please have a second USB port??

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Does your car not have the 12v cigarette lighter ports?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

That would not be compatible with wired Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. It has to be a built-in port with a data connection, unless your car has the newer wireless extensions.